Past Event

December 14, 2001

Catalogues Raisonnés and the Authentication Process: Where the Ivory Tower Meets the Marketplace

Catalogues raisonnés are crucial research tools affecting the scholarly, commercial, institutional, and collecting art worlds. They are plagued, however, by controversy over who should produce them; who should fund them; what standards should be applied to avoid the perception of arbitrary decision-making or conflicts of interest; and what protection can be afforded the scholars involved from lawsuits stemming from the rendering of their opinions. This conference focused on the processes, standards, and challenges of catalogues raisonnés. It also addressed the broader authentication process. Designed to be educational, not polemical, it provided a forum for those involved in the process to exchange information, while it facilitated a dialogue between producers and users of catalogues raisonnés.

TOPICS

– Right or Wrong; Real or Fake: Who Cares?
– Procedures and Process
– Who Judges the Experts?
– Legal Liability for Giving Opinions
– Insurance Options
– Getting Published; At What Cost?
– Ethics and Potential Conflicts of Interest
– Post-Research: Dealing with the Field

Copies of the conference resource packet are available to non-attendees.

Packet Includes:

– Articles relating to catalogues raisonnés
– Legal articles relating to: Droit Morale; Authenticationand the Liability of Scholars Giving Opinions
– Sample authentication data sheets and waiver forms

To place an order, please see our Resource Packets page.

IFAR gratefully acknowledges the following for their grants toward support of this conference:

Samuel H. Kress Foundation
Roy Lichtenstein Foundation

Paul Anbinder, Editor and Publisher, Hudson Hills Press

Vivian Endicott Barnett, Author, Kandinsky Watercolours: Catalogue Raisonné 1900-1921 and 1922-1944

Jack Cowart, Executive Director, Roy Lichtenstein Foundation

Sarah Faunce, Director, Courbet Catalogue Raisonné Project

Theodore H. Feder, President, Artists Rights Society, Inc. (ARS)

Michael Findlay, Director, Acquavella Galleries

Sharon Flescher, Executive Director, International Foundation for Art Research (IFAR)

Grace Glueck, Art Critic, The New York Times

Theodore N. Kaplan, esq., Kaplan Fox & Kilsheimer LLP

Gail Levin, Prof. of Art History, Baruch College and The Graduate Center, CUNY; Author, Edward Hopper: A Catalogue Raisonné

Steven Mark Levy, esq., Lewis, D'Amato, Brisbois & Bisgaard LLP

Barbara Buhler Lynes, Curator, The Georgia O'Keeffe Museum; Author, Georgia O'Keeffe Catalogue Raisonné

Nancy Mowll Matthews, Eugénie Prendergast Curator, Williams College Museum of Art; President, Catalogue Raisonné Scholars Association

Neil Printz, Editor, The Isamu Noguchi Catalogue Raisonné; Co-editor, Andy Warhol Catalogue Raisonné: Volumes I-II

Van Kirk Reeves, esq., Porter & Reeves

Ellen Hoener Ross, Vice President, Acordia (Insurance Company)

Samuel Sachs II, Director, The Frick Collection

Ronald D. Spencer, esq., Carter, Ledyard and Milburn

Elaine Stainton, Sr. Editor; Director, Museum & Art Group, Harry N. Abrams, Inc.

Peter R. Stern, esq., Berger Stern & Webb, LLP Joyce Hill Stoner, Professor & Paintings Conservator, Winterthur/University of Delaware, Program in Art Conservation

Theodore E. Stebbins, Jr. Distinguished Fellow and Consultative Curator of American Paintings, Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University

Peter C. Sutton, Exec. Director and CEO, Bruce Museum of Arts and Science; Author, Pieter de Hooch: Complete Edition with a Catalogue Raisonné

John Tancock, Sr. Vice President, Impressionist and Modern Paintings, Sotheby's

Arthur K. Wheelock, Jr., Curator, Northern Baroque Paintings, National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C